Automatic railway gate



June 24 1924.

v w. B. STURGES AUTOMATIC RAILWAY GATE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 12, 1923 June 24, 1924. 1,499,261

w. B; STURGES AUTOMATIC RAILWAY GATE Filed Ot. 12, 1923 s Sheets-Sheet. 2

June 24, 1924.

. v w. B. STURGES AUTOMATIC RAILWAY GATE 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 F'ilecl, Oct 12,

Fatented June 24, 1924.,

UNITED STATES meager WILLIAM BALEY STURGES, OF LO'ITIE, LOUISIANA.

AUTOMATIC RAILWAY GATE.

Application filed October 12, 1923. Serial No. 668,168.

17 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM B. STURGEs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lottie, in the parish of Pointe Coupee and State of Louisiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Railway Gates; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to improvements in automatic railway gates and has for an object to provide for the raising of gates across the road-way at a railroad intersection by the action of the train in approaching the crossing.

Other objects of the invention are to provide an improved mechanical device disposed in the path of the locomotive to be depressed by a part thereof during the travel ofthe locomotive over a section of thetrack sufficiently far from theintersection to insure that the gates will be elevated in good time before the arrival of the train; to provide improved gates normally lying below the track level and adapted to be raised by the improved device to a position barring the crossing; and to unite the gates with the automatic raising mechanism by' a simple and effective construction which will communicate movement to the gates without lost motion.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention will be more fully described hereinafter, and will be more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

In the drawings, wherein like symbols refer to like or corresponding parts throughout the several views,

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a railway crossing. showing the gates and the appara tus for operating the same.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal section taken through the track at the crossing with the parts in a normal position, the gates being down.

Figure?) is a similar view with the gates raised.

Figure 4 is a cross section taken on the line 44 in Figure 1. I

Figure 5 is a transverse section taken on t e line 5- 5 in F gure l, and

Figure 6 is a' similar view showing the raised position of the gates.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 1 and 2 designate the rails and 3 the ties supporting the same while the road is designated generally at4.

To either side'of the road are elongated ties or beams 5 and Ghavingbase members 7 and 8 thereon and posts9 standing erect or vertical base members held in place by diagonal braces 10. The gates 11 are made of substantially U shape construction havingv the side arms 12 pivotedat their free ends as'indicated at 13 to the-outside'faces of the blocks 5 and 6 and adapted when .elevated to strike the post 9 at a suitable elevation to bar the crossing. Each free end of the gate arms 12 is provided with a diagonal extension 14 lying in rear of the pivot point 13, to which extensions are coupled rods 15 lying parallel with the beams or ties 6 and extending approximately to a central point between the rails being guided in the clips 16 attached to said ties. A lug 17 on the extension 14; provides for receiving one end of a coil spring 18 'aflixed as at 19 to the tie or some other stationary part, the spring acting to restore the gates to a normal low position indicatedv in Figures 1 and 5.

The inner ends of the rod 15 are connected to chains 20 or other flexible connections which extend about the pulleys 21 carried in a block 22 secured as by bolts 23 to the central portion of the beam 6. The chains 20 are joined tov a connecting plate 24 lying at the head of a rod 25 which extends and is suitably guided for a. distance along the track and approximately midway between the rails 1 and 2. Beams 26 and 27 are mounted upon theties 3 at a desired'distance from the crossing and covering a suitable distance, these beams having pins 28 journaled therein with spacing sleeves 29 on the pins between the beams. Links are pivoted upon the pins between the spacing sleeves and comprise straight members 30 and offset members 31 riveted or otherwise secured together as indicated at 32and' having secured between the upper spaced ends thereof as bypivot 33 a shoe 34 having anenlarged head and slopingends as indicated inFigures 2 and 3. The intermediate link is pro vided th. a bell exten 5 we jecting downwardly between adjacent ties and being secured to a chain or other flex ble connection 36 extending to a pulley 37 and being connected to the other end of the rod 25. r

In operation the springs 18 which are "four innumber, being connected to each pair of arms of both of the gates 11, normally hold the gates lowered as shown in Figures 1 and 5, and in this position the trip shoe is elevated above the track as represented in Figure 2 This condition oi the parts prevails' until a locomotive approaching the crossing strikes the curved end of the trip shoe, causing. the shoe to move along in the same direction and at the same time lowering the shoe as indicated in Figure 3 which causes a movement of the bell crank arm away from the crossing, exerting pull upon the chain 36 and rod which is imparted to the connecting plate 24 and its chains 20. -The chains are thus pulled to; wardone another drawing upon the rods 15 and swinging the gates about the pivot points until they arrive at the upright position shown in Figure 6, where they are arrested by the standards or posts 9. Here they interpose an effective barrier to the crossing and act as a signal to announce the approach of the train. In securing this movement the springs 18 are distended as illustrated in Figure 6 and'are held in this potential position until the locomotive is free of the trip shoe 34-, whereupon the springs are contracted and draw all of the parts back to the initial position. It will be understood that a second trip shoe may be placed to the opposite side of the crossing and coupled in a similar way to the other sides of the gate arms to enable trains coming from an opposite direction to also close the gates but inasmuch as this is merely a duplication of parts, it has not been illustrated.

It will be further appreciated from the V foregoing that the present invention. provides a compact and effective gate closing mechanism which is operated automatically by the approach of a train and which will therefore eliminate the dangers incident to errors arising from human agency;

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made in the details of construction and designot the above specifically described embodiment of this invention without departing from the spirit thereof, such changes and modifications being restricted only by the scope of the following claims. I

hat is claimed is: v

i '1. An automatic railway gate comprising a gate member situated at a road crossing and beingpivoted at its lower portion remote from the railroad and'below the surface of the roadway, said gate adapted in its open position to lie adjacent the near rail of the railroad, means actuated by a train appro-aching the crossing for automatically raising the gate about its pivoted point into a substantially upright position, and other means in opposition thereto for restoring the gate to the open position, substantially as described.

2. In an automatic railway gate, the combination or a substantially inverted U shape member having its free ends pivoted belo v the su face of the roadway at the side of the railroad, said gate adapted to swing upwardly to bar the crossing, means arran 'ed in the oath of the locomotive and having connection to the gate for raising the same upon the approach of a train, and resilient means acting in opposition to said last named means for restoring the gate automatically to the low position upon passage of the train, substantially as described.

8. In an automatic railway gate, the combination of a gate being pivoted at its lower end to swing at right angles tofthe path of a railway and having" entended arms, connections to said arms extending to a central point beneath the railroad and lying 'alon'g such railroad, and .trip means adapted to be shiftedby a passing locomotive and having connection to said connections for raising the gate, substantially as described.

4. In an automatic railway gate, the combination'ot a pair of gate members sit-uated at opposite sides of the crossing and adapted to swing down to opposite direc tions toward the track and to lie substantially tlushwith the roadway, a trip shoe lying between the rails at a distance from the crossing and adapted to have a longitud-inalmovement of the railway and a downward movement, connections to saidv trip lever and to both of the gates for si-mul-- taneously raising said gates upon the longt tudinal: and downward shifting of thetrip shoe, substantially as described. V

5. In an automatic railway gate, a pair of gate members consisting of substantially U shape members placed in inverted positions and pivoted at their lower portions at opposite sides of the railroad, suchmembers adapted to swing down toward one another and lie approximately flush with the roadway, means for encountering the gates in their upright position, said gates for extensions belowthei-r pivoted points, rods connected thereto and lying transversely o1 the railroad, a connecting plate moving longitudinally of the railroad having connection to both of said rods, arod connected to such connectingplate, aytrip shoe mounted for longitudinal and downward movement having connection to said last named rod, substantially as described.

WILLIAM BALEY reases,

ill 

